


Black Cherry Fuse

by Yume_Sekaii



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: Boxmore kids and Fink try to help out, I don't understand tags lol, I needed more blushy shy Venomous so I wrote this, Insert all the kids screaming at Boxman that Venomous is in love with him, M/M, Oblivious Boxman, Pining, Venomous has is bad for Boxman
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-29
Updated: 2018-10-19
Packaged: 2019-07-20 09:52:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 7,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16134812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yume_Sekaii/pseuds/Yume_Sekaii
Summary: Every single time he tries to say "I love you" he chokes up. No matter how hard he tries Venomous can't muster up the courage to tell Boxman how he feels. Now it's up to the kids to rescue him.





	1. Black Cherry Fuse

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is my very first work in the OK KO fandom and what better way to start than to write the ship that got me into it in the first place, Voxman! I hope you enjoy!

How long has it been since he felt passion? It had stuck in his mind for a while now, more than he would like to admit. When he came up with the idea to be a villain it was because he felt like villainy was the ultimate challenge. It was a test on how far he could go and what he could achieve.

Now with the whole world sitting pretty in the palm of his hand it felt like nothing. Making the same statements every single day to the same damn figureheads who were powerless to his silly rayguns of mass destruction, it was like he was looping the days in his own personal hell. How long has it been since he felt consumed by the sense of excitement and discovery that he had when he was crushing heroes back and forth as a unknown force? Thinking to himself, if I could be a big shot then I can have it all!

It was all a sham, there was nothing thrilling about hitting it off. It was all about appeal and he made enough of it to circle the world twice. Was it worth it though? Was any of it worth it? Honestly, he had no answer for that. The life was lavish, he could go anywhere and do anything he wanted to on a whim. He could buy off companies left and right, he could destroy cities, he could ruin people's lives with ease.

But that too was boring.

For everything he wanted to do he would need permission from the board of directors and have it planned accordingly or else he became an outsider. An outcast. It would be a waste of resources on his part.

"Professor Venomous?"

He snapped out of his daze.

"Ah, um... what is it Boxman?" Venomous asked, looking down to meet Boxman's eyes.

He was standing next to Boxman, his business partner, in front of a glass window. Behind it was a large glowing machine which had electricity that sparked and sizzled through its metal cords. The soft whirring of it was like soothing white noise to him.

Boxman had cleared his throat.

"Well Professor, I just wanted to talk about my latest idea for a robot!" Boxman looked away. His hands dug into his coat pockets.

There it is.

"Of course," Venomous said. He eyes still focused on the flashes of light bursting out of the machine.

To think he would end up working with someone like Boxman. It was, among all possibilities, the most unexpected one. The original reason he was even in contact with him was to purchase his robots which were fun to mess around with. Out of all the known villains out there Boxman was by far the most notorious for just how ineffective he is and he knew that. It's a wonder how he was even initially funded in the first place. Although...

"So I figured that perhaps if I incorporate the a more, nimble design to this one then maybe it would be much easier destroying those plaza heroes!!" Boxman had raised his left hand out and clenched it for dramatic effect.

"Is that so?" Venomous asked. "How do you plan on doing that?

Boxman looked up into Venomous' eyes, his own eyes sparkling.

"Well I remember that time I crashed at your place and got you so mad that you turned into a snake!"

"You remember that huh?" Venomous rubbed the back of his neck.

"Yeah! Ah! Also I'm sorry for getting you that mad."

Boxman was looking down again, his lips quivering just a bit. Venomous sighed. He noted how much of a confidence problem Boxman had and vowed to himself that he would help him fix that. It was nice though knowing that he was one of the only people Boxman acted like this to however.

"It's fine. That was in the past. Just... try not to make any more messes like that at my home. I hate messes."

"I promise!" Boxman had his hand on his chest. There was a lot of cheer in his voice just now. Venomous stifled his laugh, hiding his darkened face with his hand.

"Oh yeah!" Boxman continued. "Well what I was going to say was that I got the idea for this new robot off of you!"

Venomous puffed out a gust of air, keeling over just a bit. Boxman had jumped back and raised his hands close to his chest. He leaned close to Venomous and gripped his shoulder.

"Professor are you --"

"Me?" he asked, his voice going a pitch higher. He tried to repress himself. "How did you possibly get an idea from me?"

Venomous stood upright, clearing his throat and combing his hair with his fingers. Boxman had let go of his shoulder and backed away a bit. His cheeks were tinged red.

"Oh I'll show you!" Boxman announced. "But after I finish up my prototypes! I wanna make sure that these babies are finished up!"

He ran for the door then stopped.

"Oh I'll be in the lab! I'll tell you when it's done and show you the might of these new robots!!"

"Alright," Venomous replied, his lips finding it hard to keep a straight line.

Venomous stared at Boxman's back as he sauntered off, his short legs running off and his bulbous body bobbing up and down at each step. There was something so... innocent in how much passion that man had for his creations. He couldn't help but smile just a bit.

He rubbed his cheek with the heel of his palm. His hand moved up to his forehead, his fingers lacing into his silky black hair and tugging at it just a bit.

"God damn it..." he whispered. His cheeks melted into a darker purple hue. "Maybe... maybe next time..."

It had been almost a year since he had his first dinner meeting here at Boxmore. Almost a year since he laid witness to Boxman laying the hurt on some invasive heroes with such intensity. Almost a year since... he wanted to get to know him more... The first time he wanted to get closer to someone else.

Yet it had been almost a year and this relationship hasn't pushed past business partners. It was so hard for him to come up with the words "I love you" without wanting to shrink into nothing.

_Each passing day adds up. The words locked in his heart grow louder._


	2. Persimmon Bop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Venomous tries to ask Boxman out with the help of Fink, Shannon and Raymond.

  
"Boxman?" Venomous said as he knocked on the door. There was no reply. "Boxman are you in there?"

Venomous had leaned close to the laboratory door and listened. There was no sound. He couldn't hear the clicks of metal to metal nor the loud mumbles of how much of a success this would be which was odd considering how loud he can be about work.

It had been a week since Boxman holed himself up. Though it wasn't particularly unusual for him to spend hours upon hours working alone in the lab, he had barely made any contact with the outside world since last week. He didn't answer calls or even go out to eat dinner in the dining room. He would occasionally ask Ernesto to send food to him but that was all.

"Daddy's probably asleep," Shannon said. She was leaning against the wall just like Venomous was. "Or maybe he went to the bathroom."

"Either way we would have to wait," Venomous stated, his hand reaching up to his hair. "How about we try this tomorrow and --"

"Boss!" Fink yelled, clinging onto Venomous' leg. "You always say next time! You need to tell him now!"

Venomous looked down to meet her eyes. She looked even more determined than she usually did, the way her hands clawed onto his pants and the way her eyebrows furrowed down so deep you'd swear they'd touch her nose. He leaned down to ruffle her already messy green hair.

"Well I mean he is pretty busy and I wouldn't want to --"

The clacks of metal step forward.

"Coach Venom Dad! Until you manage to resolve your fears of telling our father everything nothing will get done!" Raymond shouted to which he was immeadiately shushed by Shannon afterward.

"Shut it Butt Fart or else daddy will hear us!" Shannon whispered loudly.

"But it's true!" Raymond remarked. He rested his chin on the back of his hand and looked directly at Venomous. "I can't think of a single reason why Coach Box Dad would even reject your proposal. I mean, no other person is as charming as you. Well, except maybe me."

He was promptly smacked in the back of the head by Shannon... which sparked an argument between the two. With a groan, Venomous had squeezed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. He started to regret telling both of them about all of this just a little. Fink looked up and pulled down on his sweater.

"Yeah, ya hear that Boss! I don't see why that dummy Box Boss would not want to hang out with you! You're the coolest!" Fink said.

His eyes widen ever so slightly. He covered his face with his hand as he smiled, practically laughing through his nose, and picked Fink up. Though he tried really hard to tone it down, he couldn't help but express relief that all the kids were on his side of things.

"Guys..."

Both Shannon and Raymond stopped bickering and looked to Venomous. They still had their hands around the other's throat.

"It's..." Venomous took a deep breath. He had to word this well enough. "Look I know that you are all trying to help me and I really appreciate it, I do. It's just... It's really hard to tell somebody that you... really like them because its a lot to take in."

Shannon's gaze went to the ground. Raymond turned away to avoid staring straight at Venomous.

"We're sorry Professor Daddy," Shannon said. Her fingers were pushing against themselves.

Raymond gave her a sideways glance before turning back.

"Forgive us, Coach Venom Dad. We were pushing you too hard..."

It was a bit surprising how apologetic they both became, at least it was to Venomous. Typically villianous robots don't get built with the morality to recognize when to apologize. It's another impressive feat Venomous noted Boxman for.

He took a step towards them and placed his hands on their heads, giving them a light rub. The synthetic hairs making Raymond's impressive pompadour were much softer than he thought they would be.

"Professor Daddy..."

"Come on you two," he said in a soft low voice. This was the voice he used whenever Fink cried over the sound of thunder. "Why don't you guys get Darrell and we'll go get some ice cream?"

"Ice cream!?" Shannon and Raymond shouted in unison. Their eyes had lit up. "Daddy never takes us out for ice cream!"

Wait never? In hindsight he figured he should have saw that coming and made a mental note to take them all out to more places, like to that brand new amusement park with the beach beside it. The same one he wanted to ask Boxman to go to. There were so many plans he thought of for all of them, like going camping or to laser tag. It all seemed like too much though, at least that what he figured Boxman would think.

Just then the laboratory door slid open. Out came Boxman, his clothing and his hair in an even worse state than Venomous would have predicted. He scanned Boxman up and down, trying to find some sort of clue as to what he was feeling. A hand scratch, a moving mouth. Nothing.

"P-Professor Venomous!?"

"L-Lord Boxman!"

Did... Did he hear? That was the question swirling in Venomous' head as of now. Was he there the whole time? How much of it did he hear!? A cascade of fear drenched Venomous' heart, causing it to shake in pain. Both Shannon and Raymond could see how hard Venomous tried to not shake, they noticed that it seems to happen all the time whenever Venomous tries to talk to their daddy. Quickly, both of them had taken one of the professor's arms and hugged it tightly. Fink glared at Raymond who stole her side of Venomous' arm before clinging onto his neck.

"Ah Professor wait please, I-I'm not done yet!" Boxman sputtered out. "I'm almost complete with my --"

"Box Boss!" Fink yelled. Boxman had stopped talking and straighten up. "The boss is taking all of us out for ice cream!"

Boxman's face was still. Unnaturally still. Venomous knew that something was wrong but didn't know what to say or even how to say it. He had tried hard to keep a straight face as well but his legs were telling him to run. His arms locked in place but his fingers were cracking each other. As if on cue both Shannon and Raymond's cold metallic fingers intertwined with his. Another breath.

"Boxman," Venomous said. He tried to keep his gaze on Boxman.

Boxman looked up into his eyes.

"Why don't you... take a break," Venomous suggested. His fingers were gripping onto both of the Boxmore's siblings for dear life. "Lets all go out together. Maybe... we can even eat out at a restaurant. It'll be my treat."

Before Venomous could process what he just said, Boxman had ran over to him and gave him a great big hug. The way Boxman's face nuzzled against his stomach sent his heart bursting. It's not that he hasn't done this before but in this context it felt... so good.

"Alright! Let's go then!" Boxman said. "Raymond, Shannon, go get your siblings! We're heading off!"

Boxman had let go of Venomous and quickly ran to the direction of his room. He ziplined through so fast that he left a trail of dust flying in the air. All three of the kids had such a smug, but sweet, smile on their face.

"You can thank me later Boss!" Fink said triumphantly.

"Thank you Fink."

Venomous had stopped moving. His fingers no longer squeezed tightly against either robot nor did his face contort between excitement and fear.

"Coach Venom Dad?" Raymond waved his free hand in front of Venomous' face. No reaction.

"I... I think I'm about to faint."

"Boss!"

"Professor Daddy!"

"Coach Venom Dad!"

And his legs gave way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I wanted to get this done by 4pm but I overslept and kind of had a bit of a crisis so I didn't finish this until now. I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Oh also, there's a pattern to the chapter titles that becomes much more glaringly obvious as the story goes on. I'll tell you when we get to the end!


	3. Over in 24 Hours

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everybody goes out for ice cream.

As promised, Venomous took all of them out to eat. He had a plan of how the rest of the day was going to go and it was as follows; take them to eat ice cream, go to the local kid's play center that he always took Fink to, eat out at a restaurant for dinner and finally take them home. He really wanted to make sure that the Boxmore siblings know what its like to have fun, to have family experiences.

Taking what looked to be a large tank, Venomous had quickly got in and taken a seat up front next to Boxman. As the only other adult among the group of kids he had the privilege of being able to sit in front in a single seat instead of the back benches with everybody else.

There was something so unnecessary about taking a tank instead of two cars like he originally wanted to do but it was things like this that really make Boxman... him. Speaking of, Boxman had already put the keys in the ignition and was making the final button presses to get the tank moving.

Before leaving, Venomous looked back to where all the children were at and counted six heads. He always did this whenever he took Fink out somewhere, just to make sure she was in her seat and had her seatbelt on. She was a bit of a rascal when it came down to rides, especially whenever she wanted to drive. So imagine his surprise seeing her sit patiently while talking to Shannon and Mikayla instead of trying to crawl into the trunk or under the seats as usual.

"Roll call," Boxman stated. "Ernesto!"

"Here," Ernesto said.

Venomous looked to each member as their names were called. Shannon's waving arms, Raymond's constant hair slick backs, Ernesto's hat adjustments... He grinned, slinking down into his plush seat as a feeling of satisfaction held him.

Until he realized that he forgot someone.

"Darrell!" Boxman yelled. "Oh drat, did we forget Darrell!?"

How could he have forgotten Darrell? The one who took over the very company he bought just to work with Boxman? Did he even come in? He should have been paying more.

Boxman had banged his head on the control panel, grumbling on how the robots should have been with him the whole time. The kids were all talking, questioning where their brother had gone.

"He was just here..."

"Seriously, at this rate Professor Daddy isn't going to want to take us!"

"Maybe he's hiding somewhere...?"

Hiding...

Venomous stood up, startling everybody else. He darted to the back, examining every possible hiding spots for movement. Before anybody could speak Venomous had set his hand flat to the his side and lowered it, signaling them to be quiet.

"Oh I wonder where Darrell can be?" Venomous asked aloud, exagerrating the word 'where' and 'Darrell' as he said it.

He heard laughter coming from a compartment in the corner of the tank. Slowly Venomous approached, making sure his steps weren't heard. Everybody, including Boxman, were watching with bated breath.

"To think that we forgot Darrell!"

Venomous had his hand on the compartment's handle. That same laughter was so much louder now albeit, sounding filtered. Quickly, he yanked the compartment door open.

"Gotcha!" he cried.

He was face to face with a red one eyed robot who was holding his legs close to chest, a smile on his face. He crawled out of his tiny spot and stood up, stretching.

"Oh darn, you caught me!" Darrell exclaimed.

"Darrell!" Boxman yelled suddenly. "What were doing hiding in there!?"

Darrell looked down, his mood dampened.

"Sorry Dad, I was just--"

"I was worried that we were going to leave without you!" Boxman yelled. Darrell's face peaked up at the word 'worried'. "Now go sit down so we can leave already!"

"O-okay!" Darrell said. His face was as bright as the sun.

Before he could run off though, Venomous had placed a hand on his shoulder.

"If you want to know the best way to hide, you need to find a spot that doesn't look like a hiding spot," Venomous said. He put a finger on his lips and grinned. "You need to stay completely quiet and not move at all. Anything you do can be used against you so pay attention."

He was then wrapped tightly in Darrell's arms.

"Thanks Professor Daddy!" he said.

"No problem kiddo," Venomous said. "Alright, let's head out!"

* * *

 

Taking a tank was much easier than Venomous thought it was going to be. The streets themselves were wide and inviting enough for their tank to go through with ease. He never really drove into town before, only on the rare occassion of meeting Boxman but even then he didn't notice. His main focus here was on Boxman and how peaceful he looked. He was so calm controlling this weapon of destruction, not even trying to run over other cars or buildings. Considering his nature, he figured that Boxman wouldn't hesitate to destroy everything in his path to get there faster.

When they got there, Boxman had everybody leave so that he could park and then meet them inside. Once they all stepped out and Boxman drove off, the Boxmore siblings took this opportunity to latch themselves onto Venomous. Darrell had one arm and Shannon had the other arm, both Jethro and Mikayla were beside his legs and Ernesto and Raymond close behind him.

Fink, the odd one out, walked beside the group with her arms crossed and a pout on her face.

"Professor Daddy, can I try on your sweater?"

"Professor Daddy can we go make up shopping next?"

"Coach Venom Dad, you must tell me what your hair regimen is!"

"Professor Venomous, thank you so much for everything you do."

"I am Jethro!"

"Mikayla!"

Each Boxbot flooded Venomous with questions that ranged from simple to downright embarassing. _Do you like ice cream? What brand did you use for your eye shadow? When are you going to marry daddy?_ And all of this was in broad daylight too. Granted, there weren't that many people out and he did think that all of them clamoring to him was really adorable. He tried to answer as much as he could.

"Sure Darrell."

"How about next week Shannon?"

"I'll tell you when we have time, I would need to show you my products and outline exactly what I do."

"Of course, I care about all of you."

"Uh..."

Fink couldn't take all this talking. This blabbering over nothing when there were bigger problems that needed to be addressed and this being the perfect time for it. Her hands balled up into little fists.

"Hey Box dummies!!" Fink yelled. Everybody had stopped what they were doing and looked to her. "We have something even bigger to talk about than hair, remember?"

Fink walked up to Venomous.

"This is your chance Boss! Your chance to make him fall in love with you!" Fink said.

A dark purple blush coated his face. In that instant Venomous had realized exactly why they were all there. A feeling of dread and fear rushed into him like a hurricane. He wanted to ask Boxman out! He wanted to tell him exactly how he felt about him! To think that he could forget something so important...

He groaned.

"Oh that's right..." Venomous hid his face behind his hands. "I-I guess I was kind of preoccupied with you all and I forgot..."

Fink smirked.

"Don't worry Boss, I knew you would get like this." Fink stated. "So I came up with a plan!"

"A... plan?" Venomous asked.

* * *

 

They had split into two tables, the kid's table and the adult's table. They had to eat ice cream at the store because Boxman didn't want to have a mess inside the tank. This situaion was actually perfect for Fink's ultimate plot since it relied on putting Venomous and Boxman together.

Venomous didn't really like ice cream. He thought it was messy and too cold to eat. Watching Boxman eat ice cream though, was really cute. The way he excitedly scooped up the ice cream and a slice of banana and ate it, then afterwards wiggled in joy, was so cute.

"Professor Venomous?"

Oh cob, he was staring again.

"Oh forgive me Boxman," Venomous said.

"Hmm... For what?"

Oh cob.

"Oh well I umm... Haven't really been talking to you as of late," Venomous admitted. He was clutching onto his cup somewhat tightly.

Boxman's eyes grew wide. "Oh no! Please don't worry about it Professor! I mean, I've been in my lab for a whole week so all this was my fault!" He had an awkward laugh afterward, slumping slightly into his seat.

"Boxman I don't think --"

The cup of ice cream Venomous was holding onto had ripped from the bottom, causing ice cream to spill all over the table. His hands were a sticky mess.

"Oh Professor! Here, let me clean that up for you!"

Boxman stood up, taking the torn up cup from Venomous' hands and ran past him to a napkin dispenser. Venomous' hands were shaking. They were a shaky sticky mess. A sad smile adorned his face as he watched the ice cream drip down from the table and onto his pants.

The kids watched it all play out. It killed their happy ice cream mood. Ernesto was ready to walk over to Venomous and not only help clean up the mess but console him as well. Fink had stopped him.

"Wait," she whispered.

He came back with a whole stack of napkins in between his chicken fingers. Using his human hand, he wiped up all of the mess on the table, making another trip back and forth to throw all the used napkins away.

"You should wipe the rest off your pants Professor," Boxman suggested. "It'll stain."

Venomous looked down to his pants.

"O-oh yeah."

A moment of silence. Venomous didn't want to make eye contact with Boxman when he was so frozen on the spot that he couldn't clean up his own mess. _Why was he so anxious? Why couldn't he just talk to him?_ He hated everything he was feeling right now.

"Professor," Boxman had whispered.

Venomous looked back up. In Boxman's hand was a spoon with a scoop of ice cream and banana on it and it pointed to his face.

"B-Boxman...?" Venomous was hesitant.

"Don't worry about your cup! Those things break so easily!" Boxman consoled. "I have so much, I don't think I could finish it! Ahaha!"

Another awkward laugh, this time coming from Venomous. Though he didn't want to, he couldn't help but smile uncontrollably wide. It felt like everything he was worried about had passed. He had met Boxman's eyes.

"Thank you Boxman," he responded.

He had leaned forward towards the spoon and taken it in. It wasn't as cold as he thought it would be which was nice. It was just enough sweet for him to take in. It tasted like black cherries and... persimmon.

In the back, without either two noticing, Fink had caught all of it on camera with her smartphone. Everybody was silently cheering amongst themselves, covering their mouths as the squealed for another victory.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Here's another update for Black Cherry Fuse! I was absolutely worried about this chapter since I wanted to make it ~1k words per chapter and the first section of this chapter was already pushing 600 words without getting to where I wanted it to go. This chapter was supposed to end once they got there but there was no Voxman interaction for that time so I went forward and ended it once the ice cream portion ended.
> 
> I hope I didn't make Venomous too out of character, I wanted him to be this inwardly suffering man whose scared of his own feelings but I need to realize that this man is also a villain who seems to have it guts to threaten the government for money. Next chapter is going to be so exciting to write with all the Voxman possibilities!!


	4. The Biggest Hit (I'll Crash the Stage)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Venomous and Boxman have a little fun.

Next on the list was heading out to a children's play place. For family fun and entertainment there was one place around here that managed to satisfy Fink's need to play rough. It was known as Boom Park and was a large multistory building with arcade games, laser tag, trampolines and more. The main reason why this place was so good for Fink was because she loved playing dodgeball with the kids in the trampoline section's dodgeball pit. Usually he would stand and watch as she would bounce back and forth, throwing ball after ball with absolute percision at the enemy team. It made him rather proud. However, he wondered how the Boxmore robots would handle this place.

They've never been anywhere fun before, at least that's what Venomous could gather. It doesn't seem like they've even played around with anybody their... age before? It was hard to tell with their appearance and their mannerisms betraying each other. He did hope they would play well and have fun, even if they weren't technically his children they meant a whole lot to him.

Venomous of course, paid for all of it. The entrance fee that gave them unlimited play for their physical play areas, the unlimited play cards for the arcade games, as well as pizza and pitchers of drinks for everybody once they were done.

"Alright everybody, you can play as long as you like," Venomous stated as he handed everybody a play card. "Just don't hurt anybody."

"Alright!" The robot affirmed.

"You're responsible for each other, make sure you don't lose each other or go wrecking the place!" Boxman said. "Have fun."

Once he finished talking, all the children ran as fast as possible to get to the games and fun. Each of them had split into two groups, one for the arcade area and the other for the trampoline section upstairs. Venomous' kept his eyes on them, making sure none of them would accidentally wander from their groups, until they faded from his sight. He was alone, together with Boxman.

"So Professor," Boxman had begun talking in his typical relaxed manner. "How about we go play some games?"

"Games?" Venomous asked. Honestly he felt like he should have saw this coming.

"Yeah! I mean, since we're here and all." Boxman gave Venomous a playful look. "Since you paid for the both of us to have access to everything it would be a waste to not do it!"

Venomous had taken a glance at the special band given to him for access to everything. It was a given to pay for the entrance but he never just paid for the fee, he always got the band. It was mainly so that if Fink ever wanted him to join her in some game then he would be able to accompany her. However it's rarely happened, mainly because he loved cheering her on from the sides.

He started to wonder what Boxman would be like playing these games? Would he go ballistic as he typically did when he was set on something? He really loved that side of him. It usually is a lot of fun when he gets that way... maybe he can instill a sort of thrill in children's games.

"You're right," he said. He returned Boxman's eyes with his own. "What should we do first then?"

"Well I was thinking we can do some laser tag!" Boxman then pointed his human hand up and shouted 'bang bang!'.

"Laser tag huh?"

There was a pause. Venomous had his right hand on his raised hip and his left hand's index and thumb stroking his chin. Boxman stared hard at Venomous' posed figure and instinctively held his breath. After a second of inactivity he pointed his own index finger up and quickly fired back.

"Sure," he said with a wink. "Let's go."

 

* * *

 

Laser tag was a game about awareness. In a maze dimly light, several players are scattered and must shoot each other until one person or one unit wins the match. As per rules of the game, they were clad in long gray overcoats and a large vest equipped with a red sensor over it. The overcoats let them hide in the darkness easily but the red sensors kind of killed the purpose of them which Boxman admitted to not liking.

Venomous was kneeling beside Boxman behind a large wall, finger trigger ready. The sounds of laser blasts, hurried footsteps, and loud EDM filled the air. Boxman leaned to the edge of the wall, fired a few shoots and moved back into position.

"Looks like these guys have practice!" Boxman said, going back to shoot some more lasers.

"They probably come here every week or so," Venomous replied, standing up and over the wall, shooting. "Either that or they've been through the real thing."

This was, after all, a hero's zone.

"If that's the case," Boxman shot someone running in front of their wall, successfully hitting their sensor and knocking them out. "Maybe we should do this again sometime, for practice!"

There was the rapid heart beating again, it's hard pounding made Venomous chest lurch forward. A dark purple shade tinted his cheeks.

"Ah of course," he said. An awkward smile adorned him.

They spent a few minutes in silence, only going up and down to shoot and knock people out of the game. Though they didn't speak there was a level of communication that kept them together. Whenever Venomous stood up to shoot over the wall he would take a second to look at Boxman. The way his eyes focused as he shot, the fluidity of his movements... he wasn't bumbling around like usual. Not to say that he didn't love his bumbling mess of a self but...

The loud sounds were dying out, the very few gun shots and knockout alerts drowned by the music. There were only a few people left, including both him and Boxman.

"There aren't a lot of people left," Boxman whispered. "I think we should hunt the last few out or they'll start to stall."

"Are you sure?" Venomous asked.

Boxman gave quick nod. His red eye scoured the area quickly before motioning his gun forward. Venomous ran over to the wall next to them with Boxman following close behind.

"There they are!"

Before he could turn around to look, lasers were being shot from three directions. Venomous had to hurry to his position behind the wall but it was hard to rush kneeling like he did. He was so close.

"PV!" Boxman cried.

Boxman stood up and pushed Venomous down. Confused, Venomous had taken a second to figure out what was going on. Boxman ran forward and out of his sight. Just as he was going to crawl out of position he heard three knockouts.

"Boxman?" Venomous quipped from his corner.

Boxman's vest was flashing.

"Whoops, I guess I got knocked out!" Boxman said, a doofy grin on his face. "I knocked out two of them, make sure to get the last one!"

He left the arena quietly, unbuckling his vest like the other two who he knocked out.

Now there were two left, just him and the enemy. He begun to think of a plan.

"Looks like there's only one more left," came the same gruff voice that shouted out their presence.

The man had slowly walked out from his own hiding spot.

"You lost your only other team mate."

A few steps forward. He was in the middle of the open section of the arena.

"It looked like he was carrying you the whole time."

A step.

"There's no time for hesitation."

The man had scanned his surroundings, he noticed nothing. He strolled over to the wall.

"You should just come out now."

_"You're right, I really should."_

The man had turned around, face to face with Venomous who had his laser gun aimed for his chest. His vest flashed red.

"It's my victory," Venomous said as he unbuckled his vest.

Baffled, the man had just stood there as Venomous had taken his leave.

Venomous had gazed into the plastic of the red sensors as he walked out. He had to admit, this game was really fun. Boxman protecting him in the end was unforseen but...

His dark purple blush came back and he buried his face in the sensor.

"I need to return this and get back to everybody..." Venomous mumbled.

An alarm went off.

 

* * *

 

Venomous was now running throughout the entire building looking for everybody. Apparently there was a villain attack happening here, an unauthorized one. Probably a group of ragtag villains who wanted to show their might. He was mentally cursing every single one of them as he pushed by panicked parents and their screaming children heading for the back exit.

"Fink! Darrell! Shannon!! Jethro!" Venomous cried as he searched the trampoline area. No signs of them.

After giving a quick runthrough of the entire floor he figured that they must have already been found by Boxman and left.

He then ran down to the first floor, the arcade area. Sneaking away from the security that was directing the mob, he scanned the entire place.

"Raymond! Ernesto! Mikayla!" he yelled.

He was out of breath, heaving heavily and holding onto his head. The loud sounds were really beginning to grate on his head. He tried to look up but he couldn't help but focus down, it was the only way the room stops spinning.

"Coach Venom Dad!?"

He saw three robots run to him, Raymond, Ernesto and Mikayla, who all looked very panicked. He stood straight up and tried to run to them but a headache stopped him from doing so.

"What are you doing here Coach Venom Dad? Why aren't you escaping?" Raymond asked, holding Mikayla tightly in his arms.

"That's what I was going to ask you," Venomous remarked, he had his hands on his knees. "I came here to make sure you were all alright."

"Not to worry Professor Venomous. As robots we can handle this threat with ease," Ernesto quipped.

Venomous had his hand up.

"Hold up," he said. "We won't be allowed to interfere with this as that would considered a hero's job."

Venomous had slid his hand into his hair again, tugging it tightly. Ernesto had walked over to him and allowed Venomous to use him as support.

"What do you suppose we do then Coach?" Raymond asked.

Venomous' hand gripped Ernesto's shoulder.

"I have an idea."

* * *

 

A loud cackle came from the rooftops of the Boom Town. A group of five rambuctious and oddly dressed teens were drinking and shooting actual pain inflicting laser guns. They had a much larger death ray aimed straight below them, ready to blow up the building at any moment.

Among the crowds of people rushing out to their cars in the parking lot, Boxman had quietly tucked himself behind some bushes and trees with Fink, Darrell and Shannon. He began to rip out certain parts of Shannon and attached them to Darrell.

"Are you making another cannon!?" Fink asked excitedly.

"Yup! It'll teach these wannabe villains not to mess with us," Boxman replied as he started to bend Darrell's arm.

"Yeah, go daddy!" Shannon cheered. "We're gonna wreck these losers!"

Fink watched impatiently as Boxman continued to attach and move parts of his robotic children to build this cannon. She wanted to go back in and look for her Boss who was forcibly split from Box Boss. Then there was Raymond, Ernesto and Mikayla who they couldn't even get to because of dumb security. She crossed her arms and pouted, turning her attention to the losers on the roof who ruined the day for them.

A figure had leapt onto the roof. Wearing a long gray coat with a hood that covered his face and equipped with a large green, purple and yellow bazooka, he stepped forward to the group of five now pointing lasers at him.

"W-who are you!?" one asked, quaking.

This figure had put a finger near his face.

"Who am I?" he said. "Nothing more than a shadowy figure that'll knock you out."

Without hesitation, he aimed his bazooka, the MK Raynesto, and shot all five of them into the sky with a bang.

"Coach Venom Dad...?" Raymond from his position as part of the bazooka.

The figure had quickly leapt back down and was caught by Ernesto who was missing his head.

"Thank you Ernesto," Venomous said. Ernesto had set him down.

"Alright now let's go meet up with everybody," he said.

He took off the borrowed coat and gave Ernesto his head back as well as fixed Raymond and Mikayla up.

From their position behind the bushes, Boxman stared in awe at the place where the mysterious man once was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I started to listen to Idol by BTS while writing this and halfway through I managed to convince myself to stop and listen to my other songs. Then the second half was me only listening to Otra Vez by Super Junior. I'm not even into K-pop all that much admittingly enough.
> 
> I contemplated on whether to cut this chapter into two after the laser tag part ended but thought it would be too much of a hassle and that I wanted more focus on Voxman in the next chapter.
> 
> Anyway, thank you so much for reading the chapter! I hope you enjoyed it!!
> 
> Also, how the heck did this get so popular!? 99 Kudos!? Over 600 views!? 10 comments!? Thank you so so much!! I'll give you guys a special fic as my way of saying thank you for getting me this far! I love you all!!


	5. I Do What I Do (1/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Venomous orders delivery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do we live? Just to suffer?

A dinner. That was the last thing he had originally planned to do for the day before heading back home, however, the attack on Boom Town had caused a riff in their plans. Once the police had arrived on the scene they had gathered all witnesses in the area and had them talk about what happened. While Boxman tried to sneak his way out, Venomous had convinced him to stay as two villains being there during an attack was suspicious and he knew it.

Now they were all at Boxmore.

Venomous sat in the dining room ordering food from his phone. Inside the same gaudy place he was in when he realized that he wanted to see more of Boxman, in the same spot where he watched the fiasco happen, he was staring down hard at his phone trying to figure out what Boxman liked.

Amongst the mess of the day he had completely forgotten about what he wanted to really do, talk to Boxman. He had a fun time playing laser tag and sharing ice cream with him but none of it felt like Venomous truly did anything. He hated that he was too paralyzed to do anything and Boxman basically 'rescuing' him both times. It painted him as unreliable and that was the last thing he wanted.

"Would Chinese food be good?" he mumbled to himself.

Venomous scrolled down the list of options over and over again. All this time and he didn't even bother to ask Boxman what types of food he liked. It kind of made sense for him to not ask business wise but he was far from trying to keep things on the formal side at this point. He tapped a selection, wiggled his finger a bit on the screen, then tapped back over and over again.

A door had opened.

"Oh Professor, this is where you were!"

Boxman stood by the door, human hand resting on the frame. He looked like he changed from his suspenders and his button up to a casual tee. It looked nice on him. He thought about maybe asking him out for shirt shopping later but remembered his current dilemma.

Venomous had taken a quick look at his phone before his half lidded eyes went back to Boxman.

"Were you looking for me Boxman?" he asked.

Boxman nodded.

"Just making sure you were doing okay is all!" His voice was slightly shaky.

Venomous' raised his hand. He made a quick back and forth motion with his wrist and watched as Boxman walked forward to him. He figured that this alone time was something he needed to take advantage of. He needed to push himself further.

He held up his phone, showing off the food delivery app he was on. "What would you like to eat?" Venomous asked. "I'm ordering for all of us."

Boxman faced away from him, doing his typical nervous finger push. At least he believed that was a nervous finger push. "O-oh are you sure? I mean I can --"

"You've had a long day," he retorted. He tried to give him a reassuring smile, just something to make Boxman relax. "I wouldn't want you to go overexerting yourself on my behalf."

It was quick, like a snap of the fingers. Boxman had suddenly wrapped his arms around Venomous and rested his own head on the professor's shoulder. A slight rocking of his body, a tightness in Venomous' chest.

"Aw! You're the _best_ PV!"

Dark shades of purple took over his face once more. It was sudden but predictable and he should have figured that he was going to be hugged once again. His body parts had locked in place but he tried to push past that. Slow arms reached back out for him. First his fingertips and then his forearms had gradually bound Boxman to him. He was soft. He was warm. Venomous had swirled small circles on his back as an attempt to focus on something other than his racing heart.

"It's no problem," he said. _"After all we are partners."_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second half either by today or early tomorrow. I told myself I wouldn't sleep until I posted the next chapter so this is split. Also yes, I was half tired writing this. Might edit later. I'm behind schedule but that just means I need to work twice as hard!!


	6. So You Do You (2/2)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Boxman doesn't know how to use chopsticks.

It was a long wait, fourty seven minutes to be exact, before everything came in. Venomous made note of this, secretly congratulating himself for being only three minutes over. It was a bit of a game for him that he played with Fink, whoever can guess the closest time of arrival wins. So far the score was 14-12 in Venomous' favor. It wasn't a particular stretch to say that he loved keeping himself distracted with menial things like that, it was fun to have something to strive for even if it's just for a little while.

At least to him.

Ernesto, Darrell and Shannon had taken everything delivered and set it on the large dining table. Several boxes of Chinese take out as well as bags of burgers and fries laid strewn in front of him. When it came down to it, he couldn't really decide what to get. Asking Boxman felt a bit like a mistake because once he yelled out (rather very endearingly as Venomous would add) "Anything is fine!" made him even more of a nervous wreck.

"Boss," Fink called out to him. She was pushing one of the chairs in his direction.

"Oh let me go get you a booster seat."

He stood up, only to have his pants leg pulled down by Fink.

"Boss, do you think that Box Boss can use chopsticks?"

He had glanced over the table, watching as the Boxmore robots stuffed their faces in with burgers. Ketchup dripped on the side of Raymond's face as he pulled out a box of fries from a bag, taking out a single fry and wiping his face with it. Shannon and Ernesto were having a burger eating competition. Darrell was feeding Jethro while Mikayla tried to claw a bag. He didn't see Boxman anywhere.

"Where did he go?" Venomous mumbled under his breath. He went back to looking at Fink. "Why do you ask?"

She reached into her pockets and pulled out a couple of forks.

"W-wha-- Fink, put those away right now." Venomous tapped on the table.

She shook her head.

"I have another idea!"

Venomous was about ready to take the forks from her but was stopped by a gentle tap on his shoulder.

"Professor?"

Venomous turned to face Boxman. His mouth kept opening to speak but he was at a loss for words. Quickly, Fink stuffed the forks back in her pocket and ran over to the robots to eat hamburgers with them. Venomous looked over Boxman's shoulder and tried to repress a groan. Fink knew exactly what she was doing.

"Professor t-this is a lot of food!" Boxman said, giving a sideways glance to the children stuffing their mouths with fries. "You didn't have to do such a thing you know!"

Venomous wanted to hide his face. He could feel the heat rise to his cheeks. It was rather embarassing but it wasn't like he could turn away now. He bit the inner side of his lower lip and tried to maintain a calm demeanor.

"Of course," he said. "I wasn't sure whether to go for Chinese or for burgers so I went with both. Good thing I did because it looks like everybody..." Realization slowly dawned on him. "Ate it all..."

She really planned this out.

"Oh no!" Boxman cried. "Oh Professor I am so sorry I didn't think my --"

Venomous had place a single slender finger on Boxman's lips. The kids were giving him this opportunity again. They snuck out of the room quietly, Raymond and Fink giving a thumbs up to him before shutting the door. His fingers ran through his free palm.

"Boxman, do you know how to use chopsticks?" Venomous asked.

His face contorted from glee to embarassment. His typical finger pushing, the slight pout, the way his eyes averted his own... He wanted to gush just a bit.

"W-well of course I do!" Boxman laughed. "W-why would I!?"

He was lying, he could tell. He had a habit of laughing away the smile that pops up when he lied. Venomous had gone to the chair next to Boxman and pulled it out. He then reached over to a box of chow mein and a pair of chopsticks.

"Please take a seat," he said. He was afraid of Boxman hearing the shakiness of his voice.

Without saying a thing, Boxman had done as he was asked to do. Boxman's fingers scratched lightly at his thighs as his eyes flickered back and forth to Venomous.

"You use your thumb, forefinger and middle finger to hold them," he said. He showed Boxman an example of this as he picked up some noodles with chopsticks. "Open your mouth for me please."

Boxman's face turned a bright cherry red. His body was a shaky mess but he obliged. Venomous leaned down and slowly put the noodles in Boxman's mouth. There was a loud high pitched screech that came from Boxman and honestly, Venomous can relate.

"This is a thank you for last time," Venomous said. He kept a small smile, trying to appear as cool as possible. "Now what would you like next?"

Venomous was screaming inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to die but then I remember that Voxman can be canon.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm going to try to finish this fanfiction by the end of next month. The reason for this is because Nanowrimo is coming up and I wanted something to warm up for it. I have the entire plot outlined, I just need to write it all up! Ehehe I'll do my best!


End file.
